Millwall issues smartcards to stop football hooligans

Millwall Football Club is to issue 15,000 supporters with smartcard season tickets as part of a drive to stop violence at...

Millwall Football Club is to issue 15,000 supporters with smartcard season tickets as part of a drive to stop violence at football matches, following serious clashes with Birmingham City fans last season.

The club is investing more than £1m in the smartcard system, called Teamcard, which it claimed will enable it to exclude troublemakers from the ground.

"We have had a lot of damage done to this football club thanks to people coming just to cause aggravation," said Millwall chairman Theo Paphitis. "From next season, unless you have a smart membership card, you just won't get in."

The card system, due to go live in August, will allow the club to identify and exclude any supporters identified by the police as trouble makers.

The club also plans to use the cards to gather data about the spending habits and preferences of its supporters.

Eventually, fans will be able to pre-charge the cards with electronic cash and use them to purchase items in the club shop, buy refreshments during games and make online purchases.

The club plans to offer reward points to the highest-spending supporters. If tickets are in short supply, the club will use its database to offer tickets to the most active supporters first.

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